Abusing the Light
by ShinyPantalones
Summary: A Guardian discovers a stolen confidential warlock missive on the body of a Red Legion Cabal that outlines the mysterious disappearance of a fellow Guardian.


I

I was so used to the creaks and groans of my arcadian class jump ship that I barely noticed them anymore. Most guardians I know have spent so much time and glimmer upgrading their transports. A new transmat here, a shiny new paint job there. I've never seen the point. My retro starship has gotten me to the edge of the sol system and back more times than I can count, and that's always been good enough for me.

Beyond the occasional clambering of my vessel's golden age technology, everything was silent as we sailed through the stars.

"Will you please tell me where we're going… And maybe more importantly why we're going there?" My ghost asked in her typical concerned and slightly condescending tone.

Choking back a clever retort, I brought up the encrypted data that outlined our path.

She began to read aloud.

"CONFIDENTIAL

INTERNAL WARLOCK MISSIVE..."

Ghost trailed off.

"Internal warlock missive? How did you get this?"

I had anticipated this being a source of contention between us, but I hadn't bothered to formulate an effective lie, so I spoke with truth.

"I found it."

Ghost stared at me, waiting for more information.

"On a red legion cabal."

"You found it?" She floated swiftly from my right to my left, her shell moving and twisting like an intricate puzzle. "When?"

"A few days ago." It was nice to know that I could keep some things secret from her, if I tried hard enough.

She floated in very closely to my face.

"Does Ikora know about this." She whispered.

"You don't have to whisper, we're the only ones in this ship."

She glided back.

"And no. Of course not. Ikora doesn't need to get involved."

She looked away as her shell twisted and contorted. I could tell this made her anxious.

She turned back to the faint blue light of the projected text and continued to read.

"Missing in Action:

Class: Warlock

Name: [redacted]

Last known location: Venus, Ishtar Academy.

Case: Guardian [redacted] and her ghost were researching the limitations of the Traveler's light. She believed that, akin to the near calamitous resource shortages prior to the Golden Age, the Traveler is similarly an extinguishable resource.

[redacted] and [redacted] strongly disagreed with [redacted]'s thesis that the traveler's light was a limited resource, or at least limited enough to cause concern amongst the guardians, but nevertheless she persisted..."

Ghost turned and looked at me.

"That's an odd thought isn't it? Do you believe her? That the traveler's light could be… depleted?" She asked.

"It doesn't sound out of the realm of possibility."

She kept reading.

"After extensive research [redacted] informed [redacted] that she was attempting to develop a way for warlocks to wield the travelers light more efficiently, to conserve light, without sacrificing power. [redacted] warned [redacted] that her path, however righteous, was leading her to a dangerous unknown. [redacted] continued her investigation regardless.

It has been confirmed that [redacted] transmated into the Ishtar Academy on Venus, at approximately [redacted time] on [redacted date]. Guardians in the area at the time reported a series of arc related anomalies occurring near the academy, although it is uncertain whether or not [redacted] and the arc anomalies are connected. Contact with [Redacted] and their ghost was lost shortly after.

All investigations have been inconclusive.

[Redacted] and her ghost are presumed dead."

When I first read the missive, it took me back to a time before the traveler. Before the Golden Age.

Before I died.

For the first time anyway.

Back then we knew the way we were living wasn't sustainable. We knew it was only a matter of time before our whole world imploded, and we didn't do a damn thing about it. We continued to live our lives, in complacence. Too lazy, too weak to change. Then, finally, when the consequences of our apathy caught up to us, when the world began to crumble, and it was finally time for us to pay penance, we were blessed by the light of the Traveler.

Are we making those same mistakes now?

Maybe this warlock was right.

Maybe we're burning through the Traveler's finite resources on trivialities.

I shuddered thinking of all the light that has been wasted bringing me back to life in the crucible.

Maybe the Traveler didn't save us.

Maybe it just prolonged the inevitable.

Ghost floated to my side.

"What do you think happened to her and her Ghost?"

I hit a button on the ships console and the missive disappeared.

"I think they discovered something big… And dangerous." I said with a smirk.

"Oh no," Her shell revolved and spiraled around anxiously. "We're going to go find out what that is... Aren't we?"

I grinned as we entered Venus' luminous yellow orbit.

* * *

It is a dangerous life, one free of consequences.

But it's the only life I've ever known.

Hell, It's the only life most guardians have ever known.

Until now, I didn't even think we could die.


End file.
